


azalea

by lizzieraindrops



Series: A midnight study in purple [2]
Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, helsinki, reference to Helsinki #2 spoilers, spontaneous tumblr fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-20 19:47:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6022572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizzieraindrops/pseuds/lizzieraindrops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Veera can't sleep that night on the ferry to Gdansk. A oneshot originally posted for a prompt <a href="http://lizzieraindrops.tumblr.com/post/137862987124/veera-azalea">on tumblr</a>.</p><p>
  <i>Azalea: fragile and ephemeral passion</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	azalea

Veera can’t sleep.

The slow swing of the ship ferrying her across the cold waters tries to lull her, but the resounding snores emanating from the floor between the two beds is unbearable. They spiral down into her ears and rattle around in her head until she can feel her own sinuses vibrating. Maybe she  _should_  have let Aleks take the bed, and taken her chances on the lounge couch. She probably would have gotten more rest. Not that that’s saying much right now.

Soon she’s back out on the deck, pulling her hood close about her head. The winds out here are getting stronger as they get further from both shore and sunset. Maybe she’ll be able to fall asleep if she makes herself a little more tired, a little colder.

She hooks her crossed arms over the rail again and leans forward. She stares into the dark waters, how their lapping constantly re-laces them with faint silver moonlight.

If she’s honest with herself, it’s not just the snoring keeping her awake.

She can’t believe she told Niki. Her nerves are still tingling with the traces of that adrenaline rush. She hunches her shoulders closer with a slight shiver. She’d been surprised, both at herself - she definitely had not planned on that admission - and at Niki’s reaction. She’d simply taken it in stride. Bared her own throat with a secret of her own.  _Smiled_. Like she trusted Veera completely. Why?

And what had made Veera so sure that she could trust  _her_?

“Aleks keeping you awake, too?”

Veera’s head whips around to register Niki, awake, walking across the deck toward her.

“Aw, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you,” Niki says easily.

“You didn’t,” Veera says, blinking bemusedly. She’d simply heard an unexpected sound and turned to see what it was.

Niki laughs softly and shoulders up next to her to lean against the cold metal of the rail, too. “Okay. I’m glad.” The bulk of her sleeved arm presses against Veera’s. Niki’s blocking the worst of the wind sweeping over them, the faux fur of her lowered hood fluttering. Tendrils of her hair float in the air between them as they stare silently out to sea. Niki’s very tactile, but to Veera’s surprise, it doesn’t really bother her. It was kind of nice, if odd, how she’d linked arms with her earlier, after their talk. Maybe that’s just how she behaved with all her friends. She must have a lot of them. Or maybe that’s just what it was like having a sister. But Niki didn’t have a sister, either.

Still. Maybe that’s what it was like.

Suddenly, Veera wants to cry. What if they  _were_  twins? What if they had grown up together? It’s impossible to know, but Veera is certain it would have meant something. Something that explains why she’s trembling with emotion as well as the cold temperature.

She feels more than sees Niki turn toward her. “Hey, you okay?” Evidently, her tremors were strong enough to transfer through layers of cotton and polyester. “Wait, do you like, hate being touched or something?” Niki pulls back slightly.

“No. Yes. No. Rrghh,” Veera groans and plants her face in her hands. “ _Paska_.” She’s always less articulate when she’s under emotional duress. She brings her hands down from her face again. “Sometimes. But this is alright.” She leans against Niki again.

“Okay.” Veera’s looking at the rail, but she can hear the grin in Niki’s voice. She throws a bracing arm around Veera’s shoulders and squeezes her a little. Veera swallows to clear her tight throat. She takes a shaky breath, then finds that they’re exhaling in unison. She can just barely see the exhalations in the cold, before the ever fiercer winds tear the half-condensed wisps away across the waters.

Veera feels so small, pinned between the sea and sky, shivering slightly against this girl she’s known for just over twenty-four hours. One or both of them might be marked for death or worse. She doesn’t know what’s going to happen next, so she can’t plan ahead. She’s on a boat traveling to a country she’s never been to with only the faintest clue as to what they’re searching for. In many ways, she’s more lost and vulnerable than ever. However, in others, she somehow feels safer than she ever has in her life since the fire.


End file.
